


Earth

by ronniedae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 07:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronniedae/pseuds/ronniedae
Summary: He’s 23 when Shiro kisses him for the first time. It’s chaste, a whisper, near enough. Barely there. It comes late one night on the control bridge of the Atlas; they’d been going over some battle plans together when Shiro steps forward.He’s too shocked to kiss him back, he realises, a moment too late.





	Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is an old piece, written for a zine! It was written before the last two seasons... I think? So it doesn't exactly follow canon exactly. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy <3

Keith is 20 the year they make it back to Earth; two years spent on the outskirts of a black hole have accelerated his growth above the others. He’s taller than all of them now; except for Shiro, of course.

Somehow, it makes him feel smaller.

The fight is a great victory for them; taking back their Earth from the Galran forces. The fallout is immense. Their crowned heros. War heros.

It was never what he wanted.

Within a few weeks, they’re packed up and ready to jump back to the cosmos. He turns 21 the day before they leave and he’s surprised to find the ‘secret’ bar, hidden in some of the Garrison’s abandoned quarters, still up and running. It’s a long standing tradition to be dragged here by a senior officer for your 21st birthday. He’d always expected it to be Shiro.

But it’s not. 

Matt takes the honour, but seems to enjoy it more. It’s not long before he’s off chatting with friends and comrades that he hasn’t seen in years. 

Keith finishes his drink. It’s bitter, and he doesn’t like it much. But still, someone refills it and he necks that back too. 

He lets the night roll in to the early hours of the morning before he bids his goodbyes, the people at the bar salute him before he leaves.

The next morning, he doesn't look back as his lion leaves the atmosphere, even though he can through the screen that the other paladins do.

Atlas glints among the stars up ahead, leading them back to the war. He sighs as they pass the planets, and a shiver runs down his spine as Kerberos looms into view.

“Crazy, huh?” Shiro’s voice appears in the cockpit. 

“Yeah.” Is all he says.

\--

He’s 23 when Shiro kisses him for the first time. It’s chaste, a whisper, near enough. Barely there. It comes late one night on the control bridge of the Atlas; they’d been going over some battle plans together when Shiro steps forward.

He’s too shocked to kiss him back, he realises, a moment too late. 

Shiro clears his throat. “Goodnight.” He says, before he trails down the hall to his room.

It throws his centre of gravity and leaves him spinning for days.

\--

Keith is 24 when he finally kisses him back. Half a year goes by before he’s able to work up the courage. 

But here they are, alone on the control bridge once more. So he does it. Except, this time, it’s not soft and chaste. The passion burns down his throat as their tongues dance. 

When he finally pulls away, red-cheeked and panting, Shiro is grinning. 

“Well, that took you long enough.”

\--

He’s 26 when he asks the question that’s been lingering on his lips for two years. 

For the third time, their wandering on the control bridge in the dead of the ship’s simulated night. Shiro is buried in paperwork and mission plans and battle strategies. His brow spends so much furrowed lately, that it’s leaving a permanent wrinkle in his forehead. 

“What are we?” He asks. 

“Does it matter?”

“Well… yeah.”

Shiro looks up from his paperwork and sighs. “I’ll let you know when this war is done, okay?” He practically bites his head off, before slumping into the back of his chair. 

He rubs his eyes with his forefinger and his thumb. “It’s late, Keith. I’m tired and I’ve still got loads to do. Go to bed, I’ll be down soon.”

Keith bites his lip as he trails back to their - now shared - sleeping quarters, and makes a point of not being there in the morning. 

\--

He’s 28 when he steps on the the Earth-like planet. He frowns as he steps out of his lion, Kosmo diligently by his side. He has no idea where he is, his latest mission has separated him from the other paladins, and he was thrown into the wide expanse of space. 

He’s lucky, he supposes, to wind up somewhere with a breathable atmosphere. Black is down, and she needs time to repair, he figures. As he gazes at her a shiver runs down his spine, the eerily similarity to nearly a decade ago comes to the forefront of his mind.

But this time, he’s alone. Well, not quite. Kosmo comes to his side, whimpering as he looks back at Black.

“It’s alright, boy.” He says as he crouches down to pet him. “We’ll be out of here soon enough.

He groans and huffs as he stands up, and starts his search for fresh water. 

He finds a small oasis hidden behind a rock, he stops in his tracks when he realises what he’s looking at. 

Palms. The planet has palm trees. Similar enough to Earth’s own that his chest feels empty. Except… they’re _ yellow. _ He reaches out to touch them and recoils; they’re _ sticky _. He wipes his hand in disgust. 

That night, he has the strangest dream. He’s older; covered in more scars and his beard has finally grown in properly. He’s standing at an altar, with Shiro holding his hands. 

He’s smiling; they both are. And for the first time in his life he feels calm. 

He wakes to Black’s call, and shakes his head as he wakes Kosmo to leave this strange planet. 

\--

He turns 29 within days of Matt’s death.

It seemed kind of cruel - to make it this far only to be killed by stray piece of debris while making a minor repair to his ship. Keith almost wishes he was struck down by a Galran solider; because the battles Pidge ignites in her grief nearly conquer an empire.

He finds her on a half-wrecked moon in some distant galaxy, three weeks after she loses her brother. 

“Pidge.” He calls as he approaches her. 

A wave of familiarity passes over him as he nears. He recognises this place; she’s shown it to him once before. He weaves through the gravemarkers to where she lay, sobbing, on the ground. 

“Ah.” He realises, it’s Matt’s fake resting place from all those years ago. 

Pidge shifts and taps her glove against the grave. “Matthew Holt”, the automatic electronic voice of her translator reads. Two words. A name. Keith can’t imagine how she must have felt the first time she heard it.

He continues to walk closer towards her, until his own shadow is over her. 

There’s no such thing as a sun to set on a moon; so the gradual darkness disturbs her. Her limbs have long since given way, driving her into the dirt. She’s been absent-mindedly drawing circles in it. 

  
“Keith.” She says, her throat is dry.

  
He doesn’t respond, nor move, for a while. Until he sits in the dirt next to her. He thumbs the name on the gravestone as she hears his translator echoing her brother’s name in the same mechanical tone.

He lays down next to her as she continues swirling circles in the dirt.

  
“Shiro was worried,” Keith finally says. “You haven’t checked back in a while, or responded to any messages…” He trails off. 

“Are you guys like, a thing?” She asks, and just as suddenly she sits up, drying the tears from her cheeks. 

Keith sighs. “I don’t know what we are”

“Okay.” She sniffles, as she lays back down.

Keith lays next to her, and they do nothing but let time pass. The light is low and fading; he can’t seem to name a singular cloud in the strange sky. He has no idea where the light source comes from but it reflects colours he hasn’t seen before, and they dance until it grows too dark. 

All sound seemingly disappears from the distant and broken moon when night finally falls; even the wind rustling in between the headstones dissipates. Keith’s breath is lost somewhere in the back of his throat. 

  
Then, he can feel the heavy hum of their lions’ mental connection. It’s loud. Ringing in his ears and pushing against his lungs. He remembers to breathe and the sky claps; it comes to life in a thunderous applause. It spills it’s tears and they fill the gaps in his armour. 

But they don’t move. Even though Kosmo has now ventured from the dry safety of his lion to investigate his absence.

Pidge begins to cry.

“My brother is dead.” She says.

“Yeah.” Keith responds. “He is.”

“Okay.” She says as sits up once again.

“Can you take me back, please?” 

“Yeah.”

\--

Keith turns thirty the year they win the intergalactic war against the Galra. He’s spent over a decade fighting; the years have left him beaten. Scars line the length of his body; and he can name each one. 

The one on his chin is the newest; earned in the last fight. It’s barely beginning to fade. The memory of the ones they lost, however, is not. 

His mother is buried next to his father on the third week of June. It rains. A rarity in the desert. Black roars in the distance. It’s a mourning cry, and Kosmo joins in before whimpering by his side. 

Keith crouches down to pet him.

Thunder rolls among the clouds, and the rain begins to fall heavier. 

He’d recognise Shiro’s footsteps a mile off, and he sighs as he senses him approaching. 

“Hey.” Shiro says, voice as soft as ever. 

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry, about your Mother, I mean.”

“Uh-huh.” 

“And I’m sorry about… other things too.”

“Yeah?” Kait asks as he opens his umbrella. 

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” He clasps Shiro’s shoulder and kisses him on the cheek.

“I’m staying with Hunk for a bit, I’ll catch up with you soon.”

\--

The dream comes that evening. It’s hazy and overcast. He’s 17. Standing the edge of the dune near his shack in the desert. The sun sets so quick in the desert; it leaves weaves of colours rippling over the sand. Then, in a moment, it is gone. Leaving everything cloaked in darkness until the stars chose to shine. 

_ Takashi Shirogane has been chosen for the Kerberous mission. _

The director’s words still ring in his ears, creating a sinking feeling that follows down to his gut. An engine roars in the distance, rolling closer and closer until -

A crash. From the kitchen. Metal clanging against metal. A bellowed ‘_ Sorry! _’ soon follows. The noise wakes him, but he doesn’t stir. 

He’s spinning. For the first time in years. His mind drifts to the sinking feeling an he has to wonder if a part of him knew that the mission would change their lives. 

“Dude.” Comes a voice, along with a hand waving in front his face. 

“Huh?” He says as he looks up.

Hunk is towering above him, plate of freshly baked cookies in hand and coffee on the table. He sighs, and swaps the cookies for the coffee before handing it to Keith. 

Keith sits up and takes a sip. “Sorry,” He grumbles as he rubs his eyes. “I didn’t means to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay.”

A moment of strained silence passes between them as Keith continues to drink the fresh brew. Hunk motions to the cookies, and Keith shakes his head.

“We’re getting too old for this, y’know?” Hunk says.

“Huh?” 

“For the pussyfooting around, y’know?”

“No, Hunk. I don’t.” Keith furrows his brow. 

“With Shiro.”

Keith stiffens.

“I mean, we survived a war. And not just your standard on-Earth war. A _ literal intergalatic war _ that authors and filmmakers and playwrights have been writing about for _ literally centuries _.”

Hunk sighs again. “And you made it out alive. In one piece. And so did he. Well… near enough.” He grins. 

Keith continues to look at him, still too groggy to form a glare.

“What I mean is, you gotta go get him, Keith.”

\--

He’s nearly 32 by the time he takes the advice. Shiro had invited him to come visit this uninhabited, Earth-like planet that he was stationed on, trying to see if humans could live there, too. 

It’s in the back-ass of nowhere, on some forgotten galaxy in a dusty corner of the universe. The journey is agonising. He hasn’t travelled this far in years, and there was barely a place to stop the whole route. It makes him furious.

“Seriously?” He asks when he sees Shiro for the first time in two years. 

Shiro raises his brow, clipboard in and and pushing some buttons on the wall, his pen nearly slides from between his lips. 

“You don’t say a word to me. For two years. Two. Whole. Years. Then you ask me to come see this ridiculous project you ran off to after the war. And it’s in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

“Kei-”

“-No! You don’t get to do this! What the fuck, Shiro? What the Hell am I meant to make of this?” He blurts. He can feel a lump growing in his throat and he nearly chokes on it. 

“To be fair, Keith,” Shiro says as he voice grows stern. “You didn’t seem to have much to say to me, either.”

“Do you have any idea-” He cuts himself of as something catches his sight. 

“Keith?” Shiro asks.

He doesn’t respond as he walks away.

“Keith!” Shiro calls out, as he jogs to meet up with him. 

“I’ve been here before.” Keith realises, as he thumbs the yellow palm leaf. The sticky residue brings his memory back His expression turns into a frown. “I fucking hate this planet, I wound up here once, and had the weirdest dream.”

“Ah! No - it’s just the palms. The substance they secrete has a strange effect. They dig in to your psyche and reveal all kinds of crazy shit.”

“Really?” Keith asks.

“Y… yeah.” Shiro stutters. “You were saying-”

“-We should get married.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I mean… is that what you want?”

“Yes, Shiro.” Keith smiles, an ever increasing rarity. 

“It’s what I’ve always wanted.””

\--

They’re married the year Keith turns 33, and it’s Autumn in the desert. Which means nothing more than that the temperature is bearable, and the night leaves the sand cold. 

But still, they spend the night half-camping out in the desert dunes. Relearning the constellations and each other. 

“Y’know, of all the ones I’ve been to, this planet is my favourite.” Shiro says with a yawn as the sun begins to rise. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm only just getting back into fandom, and I'm mainly on twitter these days: @ronniedae :)


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